As for the short spear I think that it was historically mainly just for self defense and for police work and it was mainly a weapon which got used whenever somebody was sleeping and they woke up and they quickly had to grab and deploy it while the katana was not available would have been interesting to imagine how well such a thing would have done as a weapon of war but I think that the Japanese word for such as short spear would be pillow spear because they were commonly kept near a person's bed side.I know that the Japanese short spear was not exactly an African Zulu short spear but it kind of makes me think of African Zulu short spears.
Interestingly, I have seen shikomizue with curved blades inside them. Both wakizashi and katana, the walking stick mountings had a curved or slight S shaped bend to them to accommodate/hide the sori of the blade inside. I’ve also seen very slightly curved blades hidden in a straight stick, but you’re quite right in this case. No way a blade that curved would fit. Keep em coming.
Very cool thanks for sharing.
As for the short spear I think that it was historically mainly just for self defense and for police work and it was mainly a weapon which got used whenever somebody was sleeping and they woke up and they quickly had to grab and deploy it while the katana was not available would have been interesting to imagine how well such a thing would have done as a weapon of war but I think that the Japanese word for such as short spear would be pillow spear because they were commonly kept near a person's bed side.I know that the Japanese short spear was not exactly an African Zulu short spear but it kind of makes me think of African Zulu short spears.
I mention the similarity and difference you touch on in my most recent book (Zulu short spear and Japanese hand spears)!
Interestingly, I have seen shikomizue with curved blades inside them. Both wakizashi and katana, the walking stick mountings had a curved or slight S shaped bend to them to accommodate/hide the sori of the blade inside.
I’ve also seen very slightly curved blades hidden in a straight stick, but you’re quite right in this case. No way a blade that curved would fit.
Keep em coming.